Homes and buildings across the nation utilize caulking or sealing material in a variety of locations, and are particularly used in bathrooms around tubs and sinks to prevent water leaks onto wood flooring, supports, or the like. Caulking material is also used in many buildings around windows and doors to prevent air leaks.
From time to time one must remove and replace such caulking materials as it begins to deteriorate. This is usually a time consuming and messy job which often has unsatisfactory results for the non-professional. In particular, the caulking material is applied by means of a caulking gun which is well-known to those persons skilled in the art and applied in a line between two intersecting walls that usually define a corner at ninety degrees. The application of the line of caulking material particularly when applied by a non-professional has many bumps, or voids, where the caulking material has been applied too heavily, or not enough, respectively, so as to present a very unprofessional and unaesthetic look.
Various caulking tools have heretofore been designed in order to improve the appearance, as well as the application of, a line of caulking material applied in a corner.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,761,992 relates to a corner caulking tool comprising a head and structure for holding the head where the head consists of a substantially square sheet rubber gasket having a working edge remote from the holding structure.
Moreover, U.S. Pat. No. 3,846,060 relates to a trolling tool for use in smoothing and shaping mastic caulking compounds, which comprises a body member having aligned and bearing surface at its sides to rest upon and be guided by right angularly disposed wall surface contiguous with a corner joint or juncture being caulked.
Yet another arrangement is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,586,890 which relates to a cock bead tool used to uniformly compress and contour a bead of caulk, grout, putty or other fluent material.
Yet another arrangement is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,821,828 which describes a tool for applying putty either to a window in which putty must be formed on all sides of the window frame, or to a window in which putty is excluded from one or more sides of the window frame.
Finally, U.S. Pat. No. 1,264,610 discloses a caulking iron while U.S. Pat. No. 1,851,497 teaches a brick mason's pointing tool.
These and other prior art devices present tools which have limited utility.
It is an object of this invention to provide an improved caulking tool for smoothing and improving the appearance and efficiency of a line of fluent or formable caulking material.
The broadest aspect of this invention relates to a tool for shaping caulking material comprising: a shaping surface at one end of said tool, a diverter surface at another end of said tool adapted to divert caulking material to said shaping surface, and a cavity disposed between said shaping surface and said diverter surface for receiving caulking material.
Another aspect of this invention relates to a tool for shaping a line of formable caulking material in a comer comprising: a top portion having a first end and another end, a pair of spaced side walls diverging from said top portion between said ends, a groove presented by said top portion between said side walls and extending between said ends, shaping insert slidably receivable by said groove, said insert presenting a shaping surface adjacent said first end for shaping said line of caulking material, a diverter surface disposed between said side walls and spaced from said shaping surface for diverting excess caulking material between said side walls towards said shaping surface.
Yet another aspect of this invention relates to a method of shaping a line of formable caulking material in a corner with a tool having a shaping surface at one end of the tool, a diverter surface at the other end thereof, and a receiving cavity disposed between said shaping surface and said diverter surface, comprising the steps of: placing said tool over said line of formable caulking material with said shaping surface contacting said line of caulking material, moving said tool along said line whereby: said shaping surface imparts a shape to said line of caulking material, excess caulking material is trapped within said cavity and diverted toward said shaping edge and said diverter surface, said diverter surface diverting excess caulking material back toward said shaping surface.